


The Second Pretzel Job

by AthenaMay24



Series: Pretzel Baby [2]
Category: Leverage
Genre: F/M, Found Family, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pregnancy/Kidfic, Rating May Change, pretzel baby
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-25
Updated: 2019-03-03
Packaged: 2019-03-04 22:36:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,943
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13374495
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AthenaMay24/pseuds/AthenaMay24
Summary: Not only are Parker and Hardison expecting a second child, but they are also on the run from a past mark who's already got nothing to lose. What's more important, revenge or safety? And what's safer, anyway, running or fighting back?This is a sequel to The Pretzel Baby Job. It's a little different, though, since it takes place in a much smaller time frame and is much more plot driven. It's also darker, and may end up with a higher rating.





	1. The Wake Up Call Job

**Author's Note:**

> This takes place exactly where Pretzel Baby left off. I don't really think it's necessary for you to have read that to understand this (though I'm not saying you shouldn't go read it if you haven't already) but all you really need to know is that Parker and Hardison are married, and have a 4-year-old daughter named Natasha.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Parker shares some news with Hardison, and Sophie shares some news with the both of them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back!! I really need to thank chelseacart8 (on tumblr)/Chelseacarter8 (on here) for encouraging me to come back and give this another try. Also, SoniaLawson and cgarcia555 for continuing to show interest throughout the year long (oops?) break I took from this fic. I won't go into the reasons that I had to stop writing, but I will say that a lot of those reasons still exist, so I'm going to warn you that updates won't be consistant. HOWEVER, I do have a complete plot outline done, and I have the will to finish, so even if it takes forever, I'll try my best to get a complete story for y'all. 
> 
> Anyway, I hope you're still out there, and I hope you know how much I think about all the support each and every one of you have given me, and how much I wish I could have done this sooner. 
> 
> Just, some real quick stuff about this chapter, the first scene takes place before Ch 15 of Pretzel Baby, and the rest happens concurrently or after Ch 15. This is kinda a fluffy refresher/lead-in to the main plot of the story. Also, just a note, this will deal with some darker themes than the last one. The bad guy is really bad. For that reason, tags and the rating is subject to change. But, as always, let me know if there's anything else I need to do regarding tagging or rating or even content, I really want y'all to enjoy.

“C’mon, babe, we’ve gotta go!” Hardison called through the bathroom door.

“I know, I know!” Parker hollered back, trying to tamp down the panic in her voice. Two more minutes. “It’ll be okay,” she muttered to herself. “It’s fine. No matter what, it’ll be okay.”

It all started approximately eleven minutes ago, as she was packing her toiletries. Hardison liked to pack up to a week ahead of the actual departure date, but Parker had never shaken the habit of a last-minute, haphazard collection of her belongings in whatever which way they best fit. When it came to breaking into bank vaults or casing a collection of priceless paintings, she was prepared to the point that even other thieves called her excessive. But a relaxing, romantic getaway with her husband? Well, put it this way, it was the morning of their departure for Venice and—much to Hardison’s consternation—Parker was still shoving essential items into her suitcase.

Parker had entered the bathroom that morning expecting to take only a couple minutes to grab everything she needed. She was rummaging around under the sink to make sure she hadn’t forgotten something when her hand found an unopened box of tampons.

She frowned, and pulled the box out from under the sink.

It had been 52 days since her last period.

Her frown deepened. She double checked her math.

Parker didn’t really pay much attention to her menstrual cycle. When she was younger, her erratic lifestyle and inadequate nutrients had caused it to be irregular, so she’d never really gotten into the habit of trying to predict it, simply handling it when it happened and not sparing it a thought when it didn’t. Once she became relatively settled and had Eliot to bully her into eating correctly, her periods evened out, but she still didn’t bother to track them beyond what her mind automatically kept up with.

But even she knew that 52 days without a period could mean something bigger was going on.

So here she was, perched on the toilet, waiting on a home pregnancy test. The only reason she had the tests on hand was because of another pregnancy scare the year before, which had turned out to be nothing. This was probably nothing too, right? She was pretty sure that they’d been safe over the past months. After her completely unexpected first pregnancy, the both of them had been hyper-aware of what birth control methods they were using, so she didn’t think there was a time when—

The timer went off, and before she could check the test balanced on her knee, she remembered.

The extra pills.

A couple months ago, she’d had two extra birth control pills remaining at the end of the month. She hadn’t really thought much of it, assuming that there’d just been extra in the pack, but if the leftover pills meant she’d forgotten to take them—twice!—then that could mean—

Parker looked down.

She was pregnant.

~o0o~

“Parker?” Hardison knocked on the bathroom door. “Is everything alright?” She’d been in there a really long time, and at first he’d been frustrated, but now he was starting to get worried, especially since he’d heard the lock click. He raised his hand to knock again, but the door swung open.

Parker stood before him, wearing a bright, though somewhat blank smile. “Everything’s fine.” She pushed past him to where the rest of their luggage was waiting on the bed, depositing her toiletry bag inside her suitcase. “Where’s Tasha?”

Hardison studied her for a moment longer, but she was acting so completely normal that he shrugged it off. “She’s downstairs with Sophie. You ready? Our flight leaves in—”

“An hour and a half, I know,” Parker interrupted, but she was still smiling. She stepped forward and slung her arms around his neck, pulling him in for a kiss. Hardison had expected something lovingly brief—the were under a time crunch after all—but Parker had other ideas. The kiss was intense, not in a necessarily sexual way, but strong, and urgent.

“Oh, come on, really?” Sophie’s exasperated voice came from the doorway and Parker pulled away. “You couldn’t at least wait for your super special romantic vacation to start all that?” Sophie rolled her eyes. She was balancing Natasha on her hip, but the little girl seemed completely unfazed by her parents’ display of affection. “The boys are here,” Sophie jerked her head towards the stairs, “We’ve got to get a move on.”

Hardison looked to Parker for some kind of answer to her odd behavior, but Parker just chuckled at Sophie and started grabbing bags from the bed. Other than taking forever in the bathroom and the kiss, it didn’t _seem_ like something was wrong. He was probably just searching for a problem where there wasn’t one. Everything was going to be fine.

~o0o~

Venice was amazing. The city was beautiful and, of course, spending time together, just the two of them, was something they almost never got to do. Parker was truly glad they came. But it was getting harder and harder to justify keeping the pregnancy a secret from Hardison. Several times he’d caught her thinking about it and acted concerned, and she hated for him to worry about her when he didn’t have to, she just hadn’t felt like those were the right times to tell him.

She hid a sigh in his shoulder and snuggled closer to him in bed. She was staring down at her phone, in a bit of a daze, trying to decide what to do. Hardison was scrolling through his tablet, having mentioned something about checking out nearby restaurants, but when he heard Parker’s sigh, he put his tablet aside.

“Whatcha looking at, babe?” He slipped his arm around her waist. His hand came to rest on her stomach, right above their unborn child, but of course he didn’t know that yet.

Parker forced herself to refocus. “Tasha.” She angled her phone so he could see it. It was a picture that Nate had sent the other day as a bit of reassurance that Natasha was handling the separation fine. Somehow Tasha had convinced Eliot and Sophie to have a tea party, complete with costumes and everything. That girl really knew how to get anyone to eat out of her hand. Parker zoomed in on Tasha’s grinning face.

“She’s really something, isn’t she?” Hardison squeezed her lightly, pride clear in his voice.

“Yeah.” Parker swiped through more photos of her. “She certainly is.”

They scrolled through more pictures, reminiscing about some of Tasha’s antics and chuckling at some of the more absurd pictures.

“You think you’ll ever want another kid?” Hardison asked, speaking softly into her hair.

Parker didn’t exhale. She wasn’t ready for this. Her mind scrambled for something to say.

Hardison sensed the shift in her, so he sat up straighter, moving away to get a better look at her face.

“Do _you_ want more kids?” she finally got out, unable to look at him. What if he didn’t? She hadn’t even really considered that he might be upset about the pregnancy, she just hadn’t been sure how to tell him, but now that he’d framed the question that way—what if he was hoping she’d say no? She almost spoke up again, almost cut him off—she didn’t know if she could handle it if he said no, not now that it was already too late.

Parker felt Hardison’s arm retract from around her, and he shrugged. “I’ve thought about it, and I wouldn’t mind,” he said. “I always figured I’d try fostering at some point, but of course it depends on what you want.”

Parker kept looking down, trying to tell herself that was good, that his words were good. She didn’t know where this sudden knot of anxiety in her stomach had come from, but she didn’t like it being in the same place as the baby.

Hardison was still talking like he wasn’t sure what else to do, or how else to take Parker’s odd reaction. “I mean, we’d have to consider how we do cons and what jobs we take, since two kids would be a lot harder to deal with than just Tasha.”

Parker braced herself for the inevitable ‘so maybe we shouldn’t after all,’ but that’s not what came.

Hardison looked steadily at her. “I’m more than happy with what I have, but ultimately, yeah, I think I’d like another kid.”

Parker let out a small, completely involuntary noise of relief, her whole body relaxing at once. She wrapped her arms around Hardison’s neck and kissed him. Leaning back just enough to look him in the eye, she said, “I’m glad you think so, since I’m pregnant.”

Hardison froze, looking stunned. “ _What_?”

Maybe that wasn’t the best way to break the news. Her relief faded and she nodded slowly.

“You’re pregnant?” Hardison repeated. “A baby? We’re having another kid?”

“Yeah,” Parker bit her lip, eyebrows raised. “Is that okay?”

Hardison’s face broke open into a wide grin. “I—you—” he fumbled for a second, unable to come up with anything to say, but the pure joy on his face was enough of an answer for Parker. Finally, he leaned forward, cupping her cheek, and kissed her, but he broke away quickly, unable to stop a laugh from bubbling up from his chest. “Oh my god. I—babe, this is amazing.”

Parker embraced him, curling her body as close to his as possible. “I love you so much.”

“I love you too, mama,” Hardison squeezed her gently. He leaned back to look at her again, and Parker could see that his mind was still racing. “How long have you known? I mean, when—how did you find out?”

“Uh,” Parker cleared her throat. “I found out the morning we left Portland.”

Hardison’s eyebrows drew together.

Parker hurried on, “I didn’t tell you because I guess it hadn’t really sunk in, and we were in a rush to leave, so I just—I didn’t let myself think about it at first, and by the time I did, I wanted to be sure to wait for the right time, and—I’m sorry. I should’ve told you right away.”

“Babe,” Hardison brushed her cheek with one knuckle, “I’m not upset. I—I’m _so_ far from—how could I be upset when we’re gonna have another kid?”

Parker smiled and snuggled close to his chest again. Everything was okay. Of course it was. She felt silly for thinking it could ever be otherwise. She had the most amazing husband in the world, they already had the best daughter anyone could ask for, and they were about to get another perfect child to add to the family. How could that ever possibly be a bad thing?

When Parker glanced back up at Hardison’s face a few minutes later, he was still grinning, smiling that soft smile that she knew he only got for her and Natasha. “Hey,” she whispered. He looked at her. She opened her mouth to say whatever she’d been going to tell him, but the thought was gone, replaced by something else entirely.

She kissed him, stretching to reach his face, hands grabbing for the back of his neck. He shifted, pulling her so she was on top of him, making kissing him easier but also relieving the pressure on her stomach. She kissed him harder, straddling him, arching forward, holding his face in her hands. She loved this man so much.

He let her decide where to go, like always, but when she pulled back to look him in the eyes before kissing his cheek, and then behind his ear, and then his neck, he slipped his hands under the hem of her tank top, running his warm fingers up her back.  She sighed.

Hardison chuckled deep in his throat and Parker felt the vibrations against her cheek and lips. She found his mouth again. His hands inched further up her back.

“What are you waiting for?” Parker spoke into his kiss, fingers playing with his shirt. “We going to celebrate, or what?”

Hardison grinned. “Hell yeah.” In one fluid motion, he pulled her shirt over her head.

~o0o~

They were awoken by the Hardison’s phone, the incessant beeping ringtone cutting through the drowsy early morning.

Hardison groaned, hand automatically feeling for the bedside table, but the hotel’s furnishing was a good few inches taller than the one in their apartment, so he misjudged the distances and ended up painfully smacking his wrist on the corner of the table. He groaned again, but finally came up with his phone. It took a good second of staring at the name on the screen before he registered that it was a call from Sophie.

He sat up, rubbing his face. “Hello? Soph?”

Parker was awake too, had been since the first ring, but now she pulled herself upright, concern clear on her face. “Put in on speaker.”

Hardison did.

Sophie’s voice came through the phone’s admittedly high-quality speaker, but it sounded not quite right, like when she’s pulling a con as a damsel in distress, but this was realer than that, something they’d only rarely heard from her. She sounded nervous. “Don’t worry!” she said immediately, apparently aware that they’d be concerned by her calling out of the blue. “Tasha’s fine, I’m fine, we’re all perfectly fine! Everything is under control, I promise. This isn’t an emergency call, exactly.”

“What happened?” Parker interrupted immediately.

Sophie hesitated. “Remember Richard Beauchamp?”

Hardison squinted, tilting his head. The name was familiar, and he was sure it had been one of their marks, but they went after so many bad guys it was hard keeping them straight. Was Beauchamp the one—?

“The furniture guy?” Parker asked. “The arms dealer that blew up that hotel?”

Now Hardison remembered with vivid clarity, and wondered how he could have forgotten. He’d been captured by Beauchamp’s goons during that case and was very nearly executed. “What about him?” Hardison swallowed. “Is he out of prison?” He hoped that was all it was, because at least they would know how to deal with it, though he wasn’t sure why Sophie would call, knowing the time difference, if that was all there was to it.

“No,” Sophie said carefully, and Parker and Hardison exchanged glances. She was obviously hedging.

“Spit it out, Sophie,” Parker snapped.

“He came after Natasha,” Sophie sighed, voice small and resigned. “He sent men to kidnap her.”

Hardison’s heart dropped, thudding to his feet, pounding in his head and all the way to the tips of his fingers. He was vaguely aware that Sophie was still talking, that she was trying to assure them that Eliot had sped to the rescue, taken care of the would-be-kidnappers, that Natasha was completely unharmed, but he barely heard her. Parker was barking questions at Sophie, demanding information that Hardison couldn’t register. It was all he could do to continue holding the phone.

His little girl. Someone had tried to harm, tried to _take_ , his little girl. It was a fact of their job, a fact of their life and choices, that plenty of people, plenty of horrible, _evil_ people would end up hating them, plotting revenge, wanting to ruin them. But to come after his daughter, a child, _a four-year-old girl_ , seemed too outrageously despicable to ever actually happen. He’d always known it was a possibility, and they took so many precautions to ensure that no one would ever make it to her, so much of their life was designed around keeping her safe, but he’d never really thought—he’d truly believed that they’d never actually have to deal with a situation like this.

But now? Now that he had no choice but to admit that some men really were that horrible, now that someone was actively coming after Natasha, actively trying to use her to get to him and Parker, he couldn’t breathe.

Parker and Sophie had finished their conversation, and he hadn’t heard a second of it.

“How quickly can you get us on a flight back to Portland?” Parker demanded, throwing off the covers and rising in one fluid motion.

That snapped Hardison into action. He lunged for where his backpack was sitting on the floor, pulling out his laptop without having to get out of bed. “Give me ten minutes.”


	2. The Plan-of-Action Job

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Parker and Hardison return to Portland, and the team comes up with an action plan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, y'all! So far I'm doing a pretty good job of keeping up with this, if I do say so myself. That said, future chapters are going to be a bit longer, so they might take more time to post. I'm still just kind of setting stuff up, but it should pick up soon. Hope you enjoy!

Hardison went over it again and again, trying to come up with an explanation. He sat, stony-faced, scrunched in the uncomfortable airplane seat, sandwiched between Parker and a man much too large for the cramped row in the back of the plane.

No matter how many times he ran through it, it was always his fault. They were so careful, always so careful to ensure that no one knew about Tasha. There were rumors just like there’d been rumors when they’d gotten together, but no solid information was available _anywhere_. They kept her safe.

Until the Beauchamp job. He’d been taken hostage by henchmen that had been ordered to shoot him in the head. Hardison had talked his way out of it, the same way he talked his way out of everything, but he’d used Tasha to do it. He’d shown them a damn picture of her, for Christ’s sake! Hardison hadn’t assumed—hadn’t even considered—that the goons would share that information with anyone. He’d been stupid, and careless, and Natasha could’ve—

He sat up straight, vigorously rubbing his face. His movements jostled Parker, who’d been using his shoulder as a headrest.

“Sorry,” he mumbled. “Can’t get comfortable.”

Parker studied him for a moment, but seemed to decide he was telling the truth. Which, honestly, he was, this was their last flight of the day before they landed in Portland, and he if he never got on another plane in his life, it would be too soon. He just needed to get home to his little girl, and then find a way to keep her safe. No matter what.

~o0o~

Parker instantly spotted Nate in the crowd at the airport. Hardison was holding her hand, and she didn’t know whether it was for her comfort or his, but she was grateful for it. This might’ve been the longest day of her life.

At first glance, Nate looked like his usual self, but Parker knew him well enough to notice his rumpled clothing, the way his hair stuck out in all directions, and the rough redness of his eyes.

“Where’s Tasha?” she demanded, wasting no time on pleasantries.

“She’s fine, she’s at the brew pub with Eliot and Sophie. Don’t worry, we’ve got her.”

Parker let out a breath. “I know,” she said quietly. And she did know that Nate, Sophie, and Eliot would do whatever it took, would lay down their own lives, for Natasha. She knew that they were the best, that Eliot was the strongest physical defense anyone could ever ask for, that between Nate and Sophie they could have anyone believing anything at all, that the only way that serious harm was going to come to her daughter was if all three of them were out of commission—and let’s be real, even then, only if all their other friends were gone too; Nate, Sophie, and Eliot would waste no time calling in backup if they needed it—but none of that loosened the knot in her chest. None of that made her feel any better about leaving her daughter to go on a completely unnecessary trip to another continent.

She felt Hardison’s arm come around her. He wasn’t handling this any better than she was, she knew it despite the way he tried to hide it, but she didn’t blame him. She was hiding too.

“What the hell happened?” Hardison asked. He kept his voice down as they moved towards the exit, but nothing could disguise the hardness in his tone.

“It’s like Sophie said.” Nate held the door open for them. The parking lot was damp and humid, but the air was motionless, not even a hint of a breeze. “Beauchamp sent guys for her.”

“And you’re _sure_ Tasha was the target?” Parker asked the question even though she knew that there was no way they would have left any room for doubt when it came to something like this.

“Yeah,” Nate sighed, stopping and meeting Parker’s eyes. “Sophie and I both heard one of the men say something about needing ‘the kid,’ and then Eliot got answers out of them all, his way, and—well, we’re sure. They were contracted by a George Stedman III. He’s Beauchamp’s lawyer.”

“The lawyer,” Hardison repeated, looking thoughtful. “Did we check up on him, back when we took Beauchamp down?”

“Ehh,” Nate hedged for a moment. They made it to the car. He opened the trunk and helped them load their bags before answering. “Not really. We knew he existed, of course, but he didn’t really come into play until after we got Beauchamp arrested.”

“How so?” Parker asked, climbing into the back seat of Nate’s car. Hardison opted to sit next to her instead of in the front.

“He managed to talk Beauchamp out of a lot of things he should have been charged for.” Once Nate got in the car and was facing away from them, it was even harder to judge his opinions on the situation he was describing. Even when he backed out of the parking space, he did so without looking over his shoulder, only using the mirrors. Parker didn’t know if he was intentionally trying to avoid eye-contact, but she wouldn’t be surprised if he was.

Parker was never really the one that handled things like keeping track of past marks and ensuring they stayed where the team left them—usually Nate and Hardison handled that—so she looked between the two of them for a moment, and then asked quietly, “How did we miss this?”

No one answered her, and they rode the rest of the way in silence.

~o0o~

When Nate pulled up in front of the brew pub, Parker was out of the car before it had stopped moving. A voice in the back of her mind, one that sounded a lot like Hardison, told her she should be careful, but she ignored it. Besides, Hardison was right on her heels, moving as fast as she was.

The brew pub was closed, no doubt as a safety precaution. Parker fumbled with the lock, even though she was using a key, even though she never struggled with locks—ever—but for some reason her hands were shaking. She didn’t like it.

Hardison reached around her and finally got the stupid door to open, mercifully not saying a word, just wrapping his hands around hers briefly and giving them a squeeze. They left the door wide open, knowing Nate would take care of it.

The front of the pub was deserted, but Parker barely spared it a glance. She pushed her way into the back rooms. A cursory scan of the blank screen, darkened space, and empty chairs told her they weren’t there either, so she launched herself up the stairs, coming to a halt at the landing outside their apartments. She paused, taking a breath, calming herself. The last thing she needed was Tasha—who was already too observant for her own good—to pick up on the fact that something was wrong.

Hardison caught up with her again at the top of the stairs. “Everything okay, babe?” he put his hand on he back, sounding confused by her hesitation.

“Yeah.” She opened the door.

Sophie and Natasha were watching television on the couch, facing away from the door. Sophie turned immediately when she heard them come in. Her face broke out into a smile. “Hey, Tash,” she nudged Natasha, “Look who’s back!”

Parker hadn’t stopped moving, so by the time Natasha’s attention was off of the TV, her parents were already in front of her.

“Momma!” Natasha threw her arms into the air, and Parker waisted no time scooping her up and pulling her close.

“Hey, baby girl,” Parker muttered into her curls, “We’re here. I’m here.”

Hardison put his arms around both of them. “Tasha, you gonna give Daddy a kiss?” He held out his cheek to her, and she pressed a sloppy kiss onto it, quickly reaching for Hardison instead of Parker.

Parker reluctantly let her go to Hardison, but she kept a hand on her back. She turned to Sophie, raising an eyebrow. “Eliot?”

“Monitoring the perimeter, last he told me.” Sophie said jerking her head towards the door. “He’s not been great with sharing information.”

“Yeah, well, you told me you didn’t want to know,” Eliot said from the door. He strode in with a nod to Parker and Hardison, but he was straight business. “There’s been no sign of any activity, but I’m not sure we should stay at this location very long. Sure, the first time they found us, it was in a public place, but we don’t know how good they are, or how long it’ll take them to trace us here.”

“They can’t be that good,” Hardison bristled a little. “Nobody knows we own this place.”

“Yeah, but we invite strangers here to meet with us all the freakin’ time, Hardison!” Eliot jabbed a finger towards the ground. “And I’ve told you a million times that living above the front business was a bad idea!”

“And _I_ told _you_ that this is my home and you can pry it outta—” Hardison started.

“Hey!” Parker snapped. “Stop it!” She reached out for Natasha, who was far from ignorant to the argument, and Hardison willingly handed her over. “Tasha, honey, are you okay?” she sat down on the couch with Natasha in her lap.

Natasha nodded, but her eyes were wide.

“Did you like staying with Aunt Sophie, Uncle Nate, and Uncle Eliot?”

This time Natasha held out her arm. “Unka Lelliot fixed my booboo, cos you were-were gone.”

“Did he?” Parker smiled for her daughter, but inside, the very thought of someone touching her daughter left her seething. “That was very nice of Uncle Eliot, wasn’t it? Did you say thank you?”

“Yeah, ‘course she did,” Eliot interjected before Natasha could answer.

Parker gently kissed Natasha’s forehead, taking a moment to hold her close. Then she turned to Hardison. “We’re getting out of here. Even if they’re not good enough to find us, they know we’re in Portland, and that’s enough for something like this to happen again. We’ll regroup and come up with a better plan, but for now we need somewhere to go.

“I’ve got the perfect place,” Hardison said immediately. “As long as you’re up for a road trip.”

“I’ll take anything over another plane.” Parker said.

“Amen to that,” Hardison muttered, immediately whipping out his tablet to start making arrangements.

 Parker stood up and started to carry Natasha towards her bedroom. “We’re gonna go on a trip, Tash. How does that sound?”

Natasha snuggled her head deeper into Parker’s chest, but she didn’t answer.

~o0o~

They decided it would be easiest on Natasha if they spent the night at home and left first thing the next morning, that way hopefully Natasha could be fully rested for the journey. Eliot kept up his watch outside the house, but he insisted that Parker and Hardison get some sleep after their horrible transatlantic flight. Hardison was pretty sure that Parker wanted to argue, but he thought maybe the pregnancy was wearing her out faster than usual. She’d agreed without much of a fuss.

Speaking of the pregnancy, they hadn’t talked about it since the conversation when she told him, and he didn’t want it to get lost in the chaos of everything else that was going on. She would still need to get to a doctor and do all the things to ensure the pregnancy went as smoothly as possible. Not that Hardison doubted her in any way, but he knew she was stressed, as they all were, and he didn’t want the stress to affect the baby.

“Hey, mama?” he said as Parker came out of their bathroom, dressed in one of his t-shirts and a pair of leggings. “I—Can we talk about the baby?”

Parker froze for a second, and then climbed into bed. “What is there to talk about?”

That threw Hardison off a bit. “Uh, I guess—” he fumbled. “How are you doing?”

Parker raised an eyebrow. “How do you think I’m doing, Alec?”

“No, I know,” he backtracked quickly, not blaming her for her annoyance at his phrasing. “None of us are doing great. I just meant, we haven’t really discussed the pregnancy since Sophie called. I thought maybe we should talk?”

Parker’s face looked blank, not like she was hiding something, per se, just like she didn’t really understand. “There’s nothing to talk about. We’ll deal with it, just like everything.” She lay down, facing away from him. “It’s fine, though,” she said over her shoulder, reaching one arm out to turn off the light. “Don’t worry about it.”

Hardison did, in fact, worry about it. Despite knowing he needed to sleep more than anything, he couldn’t seem to turn off his mind. He squeezed his eyes shut, he tried focusing on a random topic, he tried syncing his breathing with Parker’s, he even tried counting goddamn sheep, but none of his usual techniques worked. When Parker rolled out of bed at sunrise, Hardison wasn’t sure he’d gotten an hour’s worth of sleep. This was not going to be good.


End file.
